


One Dim Morning

by Elleth, Kiraly



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Possibly Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 06:16:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11914935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: Lalli comes limping back from scouting. It's up to Emil to take care of him.





	One Dim Morning

**Author's Note:**

> The last of the co-written fics with Kiraly, a little late. ♥

Lalli came limping out of the dim morning, banged on the hangar door of the shelter once, and then, pale on the fancy camera screen the place had and that was miraculously still functional, Emil saw him slouch unceremoniously into a heap on the wet concrete. He scanned Lalli's uniform anxiously for dark spots that might be blood, but it was hard to make out anything.

Still. Something wasn't right, and he didn't like it one bit. Emil's stomach clenched at the thought, and he swallowed hard to keep down the bile, then took a deep breath.

"Miiiiiiikkk-"

"I'm right here," Mikkel's voice mumbled right behind him. Emil jumped, banging his knee on the console. "No need to shout. I have everything under control." He lifted his med kit for Emil to see, as if that was meant to be any reassurance. "I will go and ascertain what is wrong with your boyfriend."

Emil was still trying to calm his racing heart and figure out how someone as large as Mikkel - not that he'd ever say that out loud, before he got face-cancer pranked again - could move so silently, when it occurred to him that he really ought to protest something else.

 _Unfortunately,_ said a quiet voice in the back of his head. _Unfortunately it's only Mikkel's teasing._

Emil watched on the screen how Mikkel hauled Lalli up and took him inside, still wondering what had happened on Lalli's nightly perimeter check around the entrance and the harbour area by the reclamation point, and why he had come back so late.

The limping explained it, probably, but whether a troll had gotten to Lalli or he'd simply slipped on a patch of ice and lost his footing was something he'd need to figure out. Sigrun relied on him as Lalli's official interpreter now, even in absence of much common language. They had started to manage better after the kraken-house-troll-giant-whateverithadbeen had forced them to figure out something quick, or get eaten.

He paced a few steps, then back.

Normally he'd wait until after decontamination to see Lalli - unless he was the one doing it - but this time Emil couldn't wait. After a quick conversation with Sigrun through the door to the sleeping quarters, he hurried down to Mikkel's makeshift medical room.

"Is it broken?" he demanded, cutting straight to the point. Lalli was paler than usual, and he winced as Mikkel eased his boot off and began assessing the damage.

"Not obviously," Mikkel said. He made a few gestures at Lalli, who gestured back and carefully repeated the actions Mikkel showed him. Whatever it was seemed to satisfy the medic.

"His range of motion is good. I'd say a sprain or muscle strain. He'll need to keep quiet and rest for a while, though." He packed up his medical kit and went toward the decontamination room. "Help him get cleaned up and into his bed, would you? I'm going to start breakfast. The painkillers I gave him should kick in soon." With that Mikkel exited the room, leaving Emil and Lalli alone.

Emil swallowed hard. "Are you okay to - hey, no, wait!" He strode forward to catch Lalli, who had tried - and failed - to stand.

As with anything that Emil had attempted around Lalli lately, it ended as a minor disaster. Lalli lay flat against the tiled ground, and Emil sprawled half on top of him, while his head hit the examination table with a _thump_. He was pretty sure that was going to bruise.

Only when Lalli started squirming under him and hissed through his teeth - the little voice in Emil's head was regretting the lost opportunity of not landing face to face, in the meantime - Emil actually remembered to get up.

"Sorry," he said in Swedish, and then repeated the same in what he thought he remembered of the Finnish equivalent. "... kiitos?"

Lalli hissed at him again.

"Okay, no? Not that. Lalli, stay here, wait." He made the sign for decontamination that they'd agreed on - a very general idea of 'washing', and Lalli stilled, shrugged, and nodded toward the sliding door to the shower room.

"Yes. But I'll have to help you. Your foot -" Emil gestured down at the lump that was forming around Lalli's ankle, and an ugly bruise that was sure to grow, and pulled Lalli's arm around his shoulder, supporting him in turn, and Emil tried not to think about just how close Lalli was now when he'd mostly kept his distance for a while.

Together they made it into the showers. Lalli's dirty uniform landed in Mikkel's laundry bucket, and the part that came after, at least when they had some privacy rather than the whole crew milling around them, never failed to make Emil's heart beat high in his throat, with his uniform feeling a bit hot for comfort.

But one thing, aside from Lalli being naked and right there, could be said for the decontamination showers: it was much easier than a wooden vat. But it made things more difficult when one person was helping another stand while also needing to do the washing. After a few awkward attempts, Lalli hissed in annoyance and waved Emil away. He braced himself against the wall with gritted teeth and let the water flow over him.

Emil tried not to stare at how it made the hair stick to the back of Lalli's neck.

By now, Emil was already half-soaked and probably needed his own decontamination, so he made the sign for 'stay there' - Lalli grunted - and hurriedly rinsed himself and his uniform off under the next shower. When he was finished, Lalli was still where he'd left him, looking half-drowned. He shoved the thought away, but that in itself was an indication of how miserable Lalli must be feeling.

"Bed?" Emil asked and shut the water off, wrapping Lalli in one of the thick robes they'd found still in remarkably good condition, and himself in a towel. Lalli simply dropped his head onto Emil's shoulder and allowed himself to be half-led, half-carried to the sleeping quarters.

Emil's boots squelched uncomfortably as he walked - with his uniform so drenched he'd not even seen the point of undressing, not while Lalli was so much more important. He'd get dressed in dry things later.

In the sleeping quarters, steaming bowls and cups of tea had been set out for the both of them. Tea, peppermint, by the smell of it, and porridge with dabs of honey alongside. To Emil it smelled like heaven, and he couldn't help thinking that even Lalli's exhausted face brightened a little.  
Emil stared at the food, at Lalli, and then down at himself, dripping all over the floor.

"You know what, I'll just…" Emil helped Lalli onto the bed and handed him his food, then he started peeling off the soggy layers, dropping them where he stood.

Lalli's wide-eyed attention definitely wasn't on the food now. Emil felt reminded of the incident on the train. Mercifully, the water hadn't quite soaked him to the bone; his underwear had stayed mostly dry - good enough to count as dry, at any rate.

Trying not to think of all the things Lalli could see now if he cared to look, Emil kicked off his socks and grabbed his own breakfast, managing to not jostle things enough to spill tea or food on himself as he slipped into bed next to Lalli.

Lalli, his eyes now half-closed at the sweetness of a spoonful of honey, gave him a little sideways smirk. Perhaps they'd both been thinking the same. And when Lalli gave a contented sigh and leaned back against him, Emil thought that maybe the day wasn't hopelessly unsalvageable.


End file.
